The first Silver Crown event of 2006 for Tim Barber saw a few teething problems with the new car.  The time cruch to deliver the new generation Silver Crown car didn't allow for any testing or shake-down of the new car.  Final assembly and set-up took up the whole first track day at Pheonix International Raceway, leaving qualifying day to be the first time the car would hit the track in the 2006 Copper World Classic.

The qualifying run was hindered by a sputtering motor and wound the Pierson Racing/Tim Barber #28 entry in the tenth position. The tireless crew of Ken, Jeb, Ted, Chuck, Kerry and MIke worked until they were thrown out of the track late Saturday night to correct a lingering problem with the fuel cell.

Everyone had their fingers crossed on raceday, not knowing exactly how the car would perform.  At the drop of the green there was a slight sigh of relief when the car jumped to eigth place and seemed to be right up to speed.  Eighteen laps later while running in the seventh position the right front wheel came loose.  The crew again worked furiosly in the pits and got the car back out only one lap down.  After the second restart the #28 was in sixth place only to have the engine quit on lap 31.  After all the dust settled Tim Barber was scored in the eight position and looking forward to a little time back at the shop before the Homestead, Fl race on March 25-26.

Delayed broadcast of the event will be on OLN on Feburary 8, 2006.